Table of Contents
- Executive Summary
- Speed Relationships
Average speed by time of day
Speed by location
Speed distributions by toll rate
Speed and rate relationships
- Toll Information
Toll frequency
Toll rate and time of day
- Time Savings
Time savings by time of day
Toll rate and amount of time saved
- Volume analyses
Difference in volume between mileposts 15 and 18
Toll lane volume by location
Executive Summary
The primary objective of this project was to analyze drivers’ value of time while traveling on the I-405 highway during 2019. The value of time estimates how much a driver is willing to pay to save time. This analysis can be applied to a wide range of industries, from airlines to public transportation services. Through the duration of this project, data was used containing volume counts, travel times, and toll rates for particular segments of the I-405 highway. The data was analyzed to explore relationships between time of day, speed, volume, and toll rate. The study also calculated the travel time variability. The team hypothesized that the findings would be comparable to existing published studies on this and similar tollways. The results produced a value of travel time in the toll lane of $27.08. This value is lower than the most recent previous study. The discrepancy is likely due to different equations used, a wider range of factors considered based on data that was not available for use in this project. Future research could evaluate data from prior years using a consistent methodology, and then analyze patterns in the results to find possible trends. Demographic data, information on public transit ridership, and usage trends in the prevalence of various technologies, could all be investigated as potentially influencing factors.
Speed Relationships
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How travel speeds change through peak travel times
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How Southbound speed varies by location
How Northbound speed varies by location
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How the October - December toll lane speed observations are distributed for different toll rates
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Relationship between average speed in the toll lanes at peak hours and the toll rate being charged at that time
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About these plots
Speed averages for each toll rate were calculated from non-holiday weekdays between 3PM and 7PM for northbound lanes, and from 6AM to 10AM for southbound lanes. Data was available for dates from October through December 2019.
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Toll Information
What toll rate is charged the most often
How the toll rate changes through the day
About this plot
This plot shows the toll rate charged at each time of day during March 2019. Weekends and holidays were removed from this data set.
Time Savings
How much time is saved by taking the toll lane at various times throughout the day
About this plot
These time savings are calculated by finding the difference between toll lane and general lane travel times. Travel times used were for the full trip length of the tollway, averaged across all non holiday, weekend, or severe weather event dates in 2019.
About this plot
This plot is for all 2019 data with weekends, holidays, and snowstorm dates included, for both north and southbound travel directions. Travel time saved is calculated as the differece in travel time between the toll and general lanes.
Volume Analyses
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Northbound difference in volume between four mileposts
Southbound difference in volume between four mileposts
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How Northbound toll lane volume changes by location
How Southbound toll lane volume changes by location
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These plots use the Oct-Dec 2019 data, where holidays and weekends have been removed from consideration.